UCLA’s 2025 football season was, by just about any metric, a tough one. A 3-9 finish, a head coach fired just three games in, and a five-game losing streak to close things out-this wasn’t the kind of year the Bruins had envisioned. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find a team that never fully folded, a group that showed resilience in the face of adversity, and a few key players who stuck around when they easily could’ve walked away.
Let’s start with the early chaos. UCLA opened the season 0-4, a stretch that ultimately led to the dismissal of head coach Deshaun Foster.
It was a rough stretch, and the program looked like it was spiraling. But then, something clicked.
Interim head coach Tim Skipper stepped in, and suddenly, the Bruins rattled off three straight wins-including a shocking upset over then-No. 7 Penn State.
They followed that up with wins over Michigan State and Maryland, clawing their way back to 3-4 and injecting some badly needed life into the season.
That midseason surge didn’t last. UCLA ran into a buzzsaw in Indiana, getting blown out 56-6 in a nationally televised game on Big Noon Kickoff.
That loss sent the Bruins into a tailspin, and they never recovered. The final five games were all losses, with only the matchup against Nebraska being remotely competitive.
Still, for all the on-field struggles, the locker room didn’t fracture. That’s not nothing.
In a season where it would've been easy for players to check out, they kept showing up. That speaks volumes about the culture that Skipper helped maintain in his time as interim head coach.
He had a tough job-stepping in midseason, trying to hold things together-but by all accounts, he earned the respect of the players. That leadership helped him land a new opportunity: a five-year deal to become the head coach at Cal Poly.
On the field, the Bruins were far from perfect, but they kept grinding. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava played through the chaos and never once looked like he was going through the motions.
He competed, stayed engaged, and led by example. Offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel did what he could with a unit that was constantly fighting uphill.
And on defense, Kevin Coyle got strong performances out of his secondary, especially in coverage, even as the scoreboard didn’t always reflect it.
A 3-9 record doesn’t meet UCLA’s standards, and no one in Westwood is pretending otherwise. But it also could’ve been worse.
The transfer portal has become a revolving door for struggling programs, and yet, the Bruins managed to hold on to some key pieces. Rodrick Pleasant, Eugene Brooks, and Iamaleava all chose to stay under new head coach Bob Chesney-a huge win for a program looking to reset and rebuild.
Tim Skipper wasn’t the long-term answer, and everyone knew that. But his nine-game stretch as interim coach turned out to be a stabilizing force in a season that easily could’ve unraveled.
Now, with Chesney at the helm and some cornerstone players still in the fold, UCLA gets a fresh start. The 2025 season may have been painful, but it wasn’t pointless.
It laid a foundation-one built on grit, loyalty, and a belief that even in the worst of times, there’s something worth fighting for.